Can I put an EV charger in at a BC house or condo?

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Almost always, under an electrical permit; in a strata the council can't unreasonably refuse a properly made request, and must answer within 3 months. Charging at home takes a dedicated circuit, an electrical permit and enough capacity in the house's or building's service. In a strata the charger usually sits on common property, so the Strata Property Act's EV rules, in force since December 6, 2023, set how an owner asks and how the strata decides. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. The permit: Technical Safety BC says nearly every EV charger installation needs an electrical installation permit, and every Level 2 or 3 charger a dedicated circuit; before the work, a contractor or field safety representative does a load calculation to confirm the building can carry it. A homeowner permit is available only for a fully detached house, never a condo or multi-family building (see doing your own electrical and gas work). A licensed electrical contractor applies for the permit when it does the work. An outlet already there: A 240-volt outlet in the garage is only as good as the permit it went in under: BC Hydro's rebate asks you to confirm one was taken out. Technical Safety BC's Permit Lookup Tool shows whether a permit exists for the address and was closed (our reading). In a strata: asking: An owner may ask the strata to approve changes to common property, or land that is a common asset, needed for a charger at a parking stall (s. 90.1). The request gives the owner's contact details and strata lot, the charger and where it goes, the stall, and a qualified contractor's description of the work with an estimate of its cost and time (Regulation s. 5.3); the charger must carry the label the Electrical Safety Regulation requires (Regulation s. 5.5). In a strata: the decision: The council has 3 months to decide (Regulation s. 5.6) and may not unreasonably refuse a request made properly; the Province's page gives too little electrical capacity as a reason it may. It may set reasonable written conditions, have the owner pay, and later require the charger to be changed or replaced if the strata installs charging for others (s. 90.2); either the owner or the strata does the work (s. 90.3). When an owner may ask: A strata that must get an electrical planning report must take requests from the earlier of the day it gets one and its deadline; one that needn't, from December 31, 2026 (Regulation s. 5.4). The electrical planning report: A strata with 5 or more lots on December 31, 2023 needs one by December 31, 2026 where it lies wholly or partly in the Capital, Fraser Valley or Metro Vancouver regional district (islands there reached only by air or boat excepted), and by December 31, 2028 elsewhere; a newer strata within 5 years of its plan's deposit; one with fewer than 5 lots is exempt (Regulation ss. 5.7 to 5.9). An engineer, an applied science technologist or certified technician prepares it, or, where every building is a Part 9 building, a journeyperson electrician (s. 5.10). It sets out the building's capacity, peak demand and spare capacity, expected demand and the upgrades that would add room (s. 5.11). Strata votes: A majority vote, not three-quarters, can approve spending from the contingency reserve fund on EV charging or managing the building's electricity, a significant change to common property for it, and buying or selling property for it (ss. 71, 82, 96). A special levy for it still needs a three-quarter vote. A strata may charge reasonable user fees for the power, set in a bylaw or a ratified rule (Regulation s. 6.9). New buildings: Some councils require parking in new buildings to be ready for charging. Richmond's zoning bylaw asks for an energized outlet able to supply Level 2 charging at every residential parking space (Zoning Bylaw 8500 s. 7.15.1 (a)), for building permits applied for from October 1, 2023, as its bulletin ENGINEERING-06 states. Other councils' rules differ: ask yours. Public chargers: Public charging stations aren't in our data. Natural Resources Canada's station locator maps them across Canada. Rebates: BC Hydro lists its charger rebates for houses, row homes and duplexes, and a separate program for condos and apartment buildings; FortisBC's electricity customers apply through FortisBC. The offers change and have paused before, so we don't repeat the amounts: check the pages before the work. What it means for a buyer: In a house, what to check is the permit and whether the panel and service have room. In a strata, ask whether the building has its electrical planning report, what it says about spare capacity, and whether owners already charge at their stalls under the strata's rules (our reading).

Can I put an EV charger in at a BC house or condo?

What the answer means

Before you buy: who to ask